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 Erik Morales vs. Jesus Chavez: A Closer Look
Feb 24, 2004 By Brent Hedtke
If you've been suffering through the arctic-like climates of this years' Midwestern extravaganza we call "winter," the scorching hot action of this weekend's WBC Super Featherweight title bout will be a welcome combatant to your wind burned face and frost bitten toes. Generally we have to wait until the Fourth of July to see these types of fireworks, but this Saturday boxing fans will have their dreams driven to the prom in a pink limo when Erik "El Terrible" Morales and Jesus "El Matador" Chavez square off for Chavez's WBC 130 lb. strap. Morales (45-1 34 KO's), widely regarded as one of the world's pound for pound best fighters, will be fighting for only the second time at the Super Featherweight limit and he will have his hands full with the rugged champion Chavez (40-2 28 KO's). As if that weren't enough to nip away at Jack Frost's heels, the undercard features red hot Puerto Rican prospect Miguel Cotto (18-0 15 KO's) squaring off against crafty veteran Victoriano Sosa (37-3-2 27 KO's). In boxing, many fighters' names will be linked for eternity. Names like Ali and Frazier, Graziano and Zale, Gatti and Ward and undoubtedly Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. Their epic February 2000 battle, in which Morales escaped with a controversial razor thin split decision, will go down as one of the Greatest of this Era. The rematch some two and a half years later yielded nearly identical results, this time in the favor of Barrera. Since that fateful encounter, Morales has been living in the shadows of his Mexican counterpart. Never quite receiving the type of fan fare that Barrera has, Morales has been consistently ranked in the top ten in the world on nearly every pound for pound list, albeit behind Barrera. The only way for "El Terrible" to step ahead of his archrival was a rubber match with Barrera, something that was looking more and more likely until November of this past year. Enter Manny Pacquiao. The tough Philippine battered Barrera for 11 one-sided rounds and put any chance of a Barrera/Morales III in serious doubt. Not only did this hurt Morales financially, but it sent him looking for new opponents to prove his greatness and earn his place in the hearts and minds of the fans, a place once occupied by Marco Antonio Barrera. It is hard to believe that with a resume like his, Morales has not been awarded to the accolades that many lesser fighters of his era have. Like that great, smiling savior of hair-metal Jon Bon Jovi once said "I've seen a million faces and I've rocked them all," the same holds true for Morales whose hit list reads like a who's who of past and present champions. With wins over Barrera, Wayne McCullough, Kevin Kelley, In Jin Chi, Paulie Ayala and Guty Espadas, his quest for worldwide recognition has not been for lack of trying. With Barrera out of the way for right now, Morales will get his chance to take center stage in the lighter weight classes with a victory over Jesus Chavez on Saturday. Jesus Chavez has led a nomadic existence for most of his life, bouncing from Mexico to Chicago to Texas and back. His struggles outside the ring are reflected by his no-nonsense, face-first style inside of it. He is known by most as "El Matador," or for those who didn't pay attention in high school Spanish class, "The Bullfighter." While this classic alias is suitable for the WBC Super Featherweight Champion, he fights more like the bull than the matador and generally impales his overmatched opponents with his wide arsenal of fistic abilities. With his August, 2003 victory over Sirimongkol Singmanasak, Chavez captured the WBC 130 lb. title that Floyd Mayweather, JR. kept from him two years earlier in one of his only two career losses. Chavez came out guns a blazing against Singmanasak (43-2) and scored a wide unanimous decision against his Thai opponent. Since then he has been weighing his options in a division that is home to world class fighters like Joel Casamayor, Diego Corrales, Carlos Hernandez, Steve Forbes, Mike Anchondo and many more. He has chose to take on arguably the toughest of all of them in Morales and a victory would cement his place amongst the elite of the division. In order for that to happen, Chavez will have to fight at a much more measured pace than he is used to. His chomping-at-the-bit style will only play directly into Morales game plan. He will need to use his fast hands to jab and stay outside of Morales' early rushes. If he can get past the first few rounds without wearing himself out, he stands a better chance of keeping enough in the tank to wear down Morales late. His toughest fight may be against himself, as he will no doubt want to stand and trade with Morales, which could be a very costly mistake. With his 3rd round KO over Guty Espadas last October, Morales showed that his power has followed him up to the 130 lb. ranks. He is the smarter boxer of the two, but he also may have the heavier hands. Morales cannot let Chavez determine the pace of the fight or he could be in for a long night. He will have to stay off the ropes and do his dirty work on the inside of the ring. This is where the fight will be won and if you ask me Morales' experience will see him through. This one definitely could go either way and many people are picking Chavez in an upset. I, on the other hand, would have to go with Morales by late round TKO when he finally catches up with the busier Chavez. Whatever the outcome though, get you VCR's ready because you will want to watch this one over and over. Email questions or comments to Brent at: kentuckyheatwagon@hotmail.com  Have your say at our ALL NEW Message Board: Doghouse Boxing
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